


The Third Point Of The Triangle

by raregloves



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Established Sherlock/Greg, F/M, M/M, Multi, POV Sherlock Holmes, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 06:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2140521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raregloves/pseuds/raregloves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock won't stop loving Greg just because he's falling in love with Molly too. Happily, Molly is open to all sorts of ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Third Point Of The Triangle

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: I'd love to see poly!Sherlock explaining to Molly that he isn't comfortable with monogamous relationships, but he really does love her - it just doesn't mean that he doesn't also love Lestrade, and he's not willing to break up with his boyfriend for someone else, and then they all three meet for mature conversation, and they don't all three end up together, because Molly has to get used to stuff, but they do agree that the occasional threeway wouldn't be amiss, and then happiness all around <3

The café had been perfectly chosen, Sherlock knew. It was half full (not so loud he’d have to shout, not to silent they’d be overheard) and its booths offered some small amount of privacy. Furthermore, it was uncharted territory. Somehow it would’ve been much harder to have this conversation in 221B or in Mollys bright, feminine flat.  
  
Molly was sitting opposite him, stirring her coffee and looking around the café to avoid looking at him. She was clearly nervous. Breathing too fast, light sweat, fidgeting, her lips pressed thin, her eyes evasive.  
  
It was awful to see her so tense. She hadn’t look so unhappy to be around him since his faked death. Sometimes he’d met in public places, in disguise. She hadn’t been happy then, either.  
  
‘I’m sorry I made you nervous,’ Sherlock said, formally. ‘It wasn’t my intent.’  
  
She laughed a little at that, disbelieving. ‘You texted me _we need to talk_ and you didn’t think I’d be nervous? Seriously?’  
  
‘Was that the wrong phrase?’ Sherlock said, alarmed. ‘It is literally true, I do need to talk to you about something. I just thought it was the most direct-’  
  
‘Ok, ok,’ Molly said, smiling at him with a little less tension than before. ‘But you should know most people associate that phrase with very bad news. Generally speaking.’  
  
‘Hmm,’ Sherlock said, annoyed. ‘Are you familiar with the terms monogamy and polyamory?’  
  
Molly blinked, in the way she did when she thought he was being more strange than usual. But she was thinking about it, casting her mind back…  
  
‘A bit? Monogamy is, say, having one partner, and polyamory is having a lot… like a lot of wives or something? I can’t remember exactly. Is this relevant?’  
  
‘Very,’ Sherlock said. ‘Though your definition of polyamory could do with some work. Essentially, what I’m trying to tell you is that I’m capable of being in love with more than one person at once, and being in more than one relationship, and you should know that before… things progress any further.’  
  
Sherlock knew he sounded stiff and awkward, but he didn’t know how else to explain the situation, how else to make her understand. Falling back on definitions and objective truths made him sound cold, as he’d been informed many times and in many ways, but what other way was there to explain the situation?  
  
‘So… so what you’re saying is… what, exactly? That you’ll date other people? While we’re together? _If_ we’re together?’  
  
‘Ok,’ Sherlock said, thinking fast. He grabbed a napkin from the table and put it down between them, and pulled a pen from the depths of his coat.  
  
‘You imagine a relationship to work like this,’ Sherlock said, drawing a S and a M and putting a line between them. He drew a little arrow-head onto the end of each line. ‘However it’s more like this, for me…’ He drew the S and the M, then added a G. S now had a link to both other letters.  
  
‘Putting you in the center with two people on the side,’ Molly said, eyebrows furrowed. ‘It doesn’t seem, well… I mean, does that mean I could date someone else too, if I wanted?’  
  
‘Of course,’ Sherlock said. ‘You could even…’  
  
And he linked up the M with the G, creating an interlocked triangle.  
  
‘Oh, ok…’ Molly said, nodding. ‘Um, who is the G in this situation? If you don’t mind me asking, obviously…’  
  
‘Greg Lestrade.’  
  
‘And… you and he…?’  
  
Molly let the sentence hang unfinished, which was rather frustrating. You and he love each other? You and he fuck? What, exactly, did she want to know?  
  
‘Yes,’ Sherlock said, which seemed to cover all his bases. ‘Very much so. And he understands, completely, the situation. I’m hoping you do too. Or that you might. Because you’re unspeakably important to me, as well.’  
  
She traced the triangle on the napkin with her finger, then blushed, as if realizing the implications of what she was doing. Sherlock felt his heart well painfully inside his chest. It happened very time he saw her blush.  
  
‘Ok…’ Molly said slowly. ‘That’s interesting. Thank you for telling me, Sherlock. I don’t have an answer right now. But I’ll talk to you soon, ok?’  
  
‘Yes,’ Sherlock said, trying not to let his shoulders slump too obviously, ‘ok.’

 

~

 

‘I don’t see what you’re so upset about,’ Greg said later, as they ate take-away in 221B. ‘It went well, in my opinion.’  
  
‘But what does _soon_ mean?’ Sherlock moaned. ‘Soon could be three days or two weeks, Greg! It’s highly imprecise and very frustrating.’  
  
‘Maybe she wanted it like that,’ Greg shrugged. ‘Either way, I still say you did very, very well. Some women would’ve told you that you’d just made up a fancy word for cheating and then slap you.’  
  
Sherlock collapsed dramatically onto Gregs lap, sighing. He knew, objectively speaking, that it hadn’t gone awfully. But he couldn’t erase the image of Molly sitting opposite him, tense and unhappy.  
  
‘Shhh,’ Greg said, running his fingers through Sherlocks curls. ‘It’ll all turn out alright, you’ll see.’  
  
‘You’re a disgusting optimist,’ Sherlock said. ‘Aren’t policemen supposed to be bitter and hardened?’  
  
Not this one,’ Greg said, unoffended. ‘What’ve I got to be bitter about? I’ve got a gorgeous man on my lap, and maybe one day I’ll have a gorgeous women sharing the lounge with him.’  
  
‘Maybe,’ Sherlock said. ‘I can’t endure maybe.’  
  
‘Stop that,’ Greg said. ‘I won’t have you moping.’  
  
‘You can’t stop me.’  
  
‘Yes, I can,’ Greg said, and his fingers tightened in Sherlocks hair. ‘Go to your bedroom and I’ll prove it.’

 

~

 

  
Nine days later Molly texted Sherlock, asking to meet at Speedys café. Sherlock decided that this was a good sign: she wanted to meet him, after all, and at a familiar café as opposed to relationship counseling.  
  
He dressed carefully, picking out his bluer scarf. Greg laughed at him as he tried to make his curls look alluring as opposed to slightly threatening.  
  
‘You’ll be fine,’ he said, kissing Sherlocks cheek. ‘Ok? You’re stunning. Relax.’  
  
‘What if she’s rejecting me? Rejecting us?’  
  
‘I never thought I’d see the day,’ Greg said. ‘Sherlock Holmes worrying over a woman.’  
  
‘It’s _Molly_ ,’ Sherlock said, as if that explained everything, and in a way it did.  
  
‘And if everything does go badly, I’m just up here,’ Greg said, helping Sherlock into his jacket. ‘But it won’t go badly. Now go, you.’  
  
Sherlock stumbled down the stairs, trying to compose himself. It hadn’t been like this with Greg. He had been composed, in control, smooth. He’d essentially seduced Greg. With Molly, everything was shockingly different.  
  
She was already sitting at a table in the corner, playing on her phone. Sherlock examined her face, pleased to see she didn’t look nearly as worried and miserable as she had at their last meeting.  
  
He crossed the café, pulled the chair opposite her out and sat all in one smooth movement. She looked up. Smiled. His heart leapt.  
  
‘I’ve been doing a lot of reading,’ she said. ‘I’ve found out… lots. It’s been quite fascinating really.’  
  
‘Good,’ Sherlock said, smiling encouragingly. ‘Human relationships are quite an interesting subject of study.’  
  
‘So I think… I think I’d like to speak to both you and Greg. Is he… around?’  
  
‘He’s in 221B,’ Sherlock said. ‘I can call him down if you like.’  
  
‘Yeah.’  
  
Come to café Molly wants to speak to you to. Hurry. SH.  
  
‘Ok, he’s on he’s way.’  
  
‘That Christmas party…’ Molly said, going a little pink. ‘I thought Greg was attracted to me then. He looked at me a lot. Am I right?’  
  
‘You’re right,’ Sherlock said, nodding. ‘He talked about it for weeks afterwards. But I wasn’t sure if you thought he was equally appealing.’  
  
‘You know Brenda Radlett, at Barts? We call him the Silver Fox,’ Molly said, blushing. ‘But when I first met him he was married… though didn’t you meet him at the same time I did?’  
  
‘It was a complicated situation,’ Sherlock said.  
  
At that moment Greg arrived, wearing a less creased jacket than the one he’d been in previously. He smelt like he’d brushed his teeth too. Typical. He flashed Molly a blinding smile, and rested his thigh along Sherlocks.  
  
‘We were just talking about how you and Sherlock started out,’ Molly said, smiling back at him. ‘I was curious.’  
  
‘Well, Laura was cheating,’ Greg said, and Molly carefully didn’t wince at his frankness. ‘Sherlock told me. I didn’t believe him for a long time. Didn’t want to, for obvious reasons, but it became so obvious even people at the Yard started to suspect, and some of them hadn’t even met her. So we split. It was easier than it might’ve been. We never had kids, thank the stars, otherwise we’d probably still be getting divorced. And it was a couple of months later, Sherlock?’  
  
‘Almost a year,’ Sherlock said. ‘You were being thick.’  
  
‘Hmm,’ Greg said, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling.  
  
‘And am I the only one you two have… you know…’  
  
‘Invited in?’  
  
‘Yes,’ Molly said. She was going a deeper and deeper shade of pink, and Sherlock felt Greg shift in his seat.  
  
‘You are,’ Greg said. ‘Nobody else has… been there for Sherlock like you have. You’re the only person I see him nervous around. And if you don’t mind me saying, I think you’re stunning.’  
  
‘Wow,’ Molly said. ‘Wow. Sorry, that’s such a silly thing to say.’  
  
Greg shook his head. Sherlock could feel his heart hammering violently inside his chest. She was going to say yes, she was going to say yes!!  
  
‘And you really don’t mind sharing him?’ Molly said, raising her eyebrows at Greg.  
  
‘Not at all,’ Greg said. ‘You know what he’s like. I wouldn’t change that.’  
  
She nodded, thoughtful. Greg took his hand under the table and squeezed. Sherlock remembered how to breathe again.  
  
‘Well,’ Molly said slowly. ‘My answer is yes. I’d like to give it a try. But I would like to, um, ease into it. I don’t want to, I don’t know, start the orgies right away or anything.’  
  
‘Of course not,’ Greg said, while Sherlock spluttered (Molly Hooper had just said the word orgies). ‘There is absolutely no pressure. You set the pace. I’ll only be on hand if you want me to.’  
  
‘Ok. Good.’ Molly exhaled. Her shoulders relaxed a fraction. ‘I was worried you’d be upset, or I was worried that you’d both be expecting me too…’  
  
‘No, no,’ Sherlock said, reaching for her hand across the table. ‘Nothing like that. It’ll be you and me, entirely separate from anything else that might happen later. Or might not!’  
  
She took his hand and squeezed it. Sherlock couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, and under the table Greg gave his hand an excited shake in happiness.  
  
‘Thank you,’ Sherlock said, speaking to both of them now. ‘I’m such a lucky man.’  
  
‘Damn right you are,’ Greg said, winking at Molly, who laughed.  
  
This, Sherlock thought, had to be what happiness was. The two people he loved, each holding one of his hands.

**Author's Note:**

> You can send me a prompt on my tumblr- I love rare pair fic :)
> 
> raregloves.tumblr.com


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